Flowers
by Blue Bead
Summary: Ever since Naruto and Sasuke left all Ino hears about is Sakura. And she's had just about enough of it, but what can she do? Will one secret "attack" repair the long broken friendship between Ino and Sakura? Or will it break it more?
1. Sakura

"Sakura, Sakura, SAKURA!" Ino screamed at the practice pole as she continually abused it. She stopped and panted before returning to punching and kicking the pole getting rid of the anger at had formed inside her. Ever since Sasuke and Naruto left Sakura was all people talked about. "How strong she's gotten. How much prettier she is. How determined she is." Ino mocked the voices of the Konoha Ninja and people.

Jealousy. That word burned a hole in her sanity. How could she be jealous over that weak pink-haired bitch? Sure she had gotten stronger and useful over the last two years, but only to the cause of Tsunade-sama.

There was a loud, but familiar, angry yell in the city limits; probably due to Konohamaru peeping and getting caught by Sakura.

The thought of the pink-haired ninja made her skin crawl. She returned an equally loud and angry yell before punching the pole and breaking the top off so only half was left in the ground. She caught her breath and turned on the balls of her feet and walked towards town

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Ino stomped into town, a scowl painted on her face. She pushed past people she knew, friends, family, teachers, past them all. She stomped to the family shop and sat on the steps; glaring the remaining anger into the dirt. 'I hate you' Ino thought to herself, 'I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I…hate you…'

An image of a baby faced girl with bubblegum pink hair smiled shyly at her. Ino grabbed her head and squeezed her eyes shut trying to erase that picture. Her eyes stung when she shook her head, even though they were shut tight. "Get…out" she said quietly holding her head tighter. The picture just wouldn't leave. 'Ino-chan…Ino-chan…' It whispered.

"Ino?"

Ino looked up, eyes wide, following from dark brown boots, to a light pink skirt, up to a bright red shirt then the face with no more babyish features. The girl in front of her gasped and fast walked up to were Ino sat before kneeling to eye level.

"What's wrong, Ino?" How mocking those words sounded. "What happened to your hands? Did you hurt yourself? Why are you crying? Ino?" So many questions made her head spin. She stood up and turned stepping onto the first step.

"Ino?" The voice behind her had softened drastically. "Sakura…"Ino took a deep breath, sucking in the anger that was forcing to leak out. She could her shuffle in the background, possibly getting up. "Sakura…didn't you say that 'We shouldn't be friends anymore?'" Sakura nodded and took a small step forward.

"Yes but…. but that was when Sasuke was here." She reached and touched Ino's arm. Ino turned around fast, her hair coming out of the matted ponytail it once was, falling around her face. Sakura gasp and took a step back. There were tears falling down Ino's face, She hadn't seen her cry like that since…

"And what happens when he returns?!" Ino yelled at the older girl, containing her anger no longer, causing heads to turn their way. "Will you toss me away and follow him around again?" Ino stared at the other girl angrily, eyes searching for an answer. When none came Ino walked the rest of the stairs and slammed the door.

Sakura stared dumbstruck at the door. There was a crack in the once perfect glass. She continued to stare when something hit her. Today was September 23. Ino's, 15 birthday.

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**A/N**: This is set right before Naruto comes back from training, just so you know. Wonder what's wrong with Ino…hm…anyways It's always good to be back. Please don't kill me. My heart just wasn't into '_To kill an Angel'_anymore. [Bow Forgive me! I hope to update this as much as possible! Exams are coming up so I can't say that it will be updated a lot. Be patient! Please! Till Next Time, Byebye! Blue Bead


	2. Cosmos

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_Thoughts_ **Flashback**

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Sakura walked quietly down the dirt street avoiding others in her way, her head cast downwards. What would happen when Sasuke comes back? _If he comes back._ Sakura sighed and came to a stop. She never thought about repairing her and Ino's friendship; she always thought that they would just be friends again, no strings attached. Obviously that wasn't the case.

Sakura looked up, realizing she had stopped, and took in her surroundings of different colors, greens, blues, reds, pinks, yellows, purples; flowers and trees of different sorts spread out across the field. _The flower field. _ The memories of flower arrangements, lost from years past, flooded back to her.

"**Oh, come on Sakura! It's easy once you get the hang of it!" Ino cried playfully at her friend. "Really?" Sakura replied in almost the opposite, near a meek voice. The younger girl nodded and picked a near by flower. "The trick is to select one flower that'll be the center piece of the arrangement and the build around it using flowers that accent the first." **

**Sakura blushed and replied with a shy "Oh" before staring at the flower in her hand. The platinum blond next to her pointed at a group of Fujibakama (1) flowers and continued. "Flowers shouldn't compete to be the main focus. For example, if you used a cosmos as the centerpiece then the Fujibakama would accent it well.**

**You know a Cherry Blossom is a "Sakura" and a Cosmos is an "Akizakura", an autumn cherry, but the real meaning of the word "Cosmos" is "Harmony" and it does harmonize with almost everything." Ino finished holding up a Cosmos flower in her hand twirling it between her fingers.**

**Sakura stared in awe at the younger girl's knowledge of the flowers. **_**She's a lot like a flower isn't she?**_** "But I think I'm even prettier then a Cosmos!" Ino's voice carried over Sakura's thoughts even though it took her a moment before she answered.**

"**Uhh…yeah!" Sakura stuttered in response. "Then why did you hesitate?!" her friend returned with a hint of offense in her voice.**

Sakura took a deep breath and counted the steps from the trees where her teachers use to stand and watch them to the spot Ino and she sat in what seemed like an eternity. She sat down and picked a Cosmos flower near her foot. "Even after she told me that I only did a good flower arrangement once…" Her eyes searching the field she picked different flowers and carefully put them in her pouch.

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Shikamaru sighed and scratched the back of his head as he stared at the intruding crack in the once perfect glass door. _Someone's pissed. _"Troublesome." He sighed and opened the flower shop door listening for a bell that usually rang when someone entered, it didn't ring. That was in till he felt his foot hit something hard and a dull ring came sadly from a bent bronze bell that lay on the tiled floor.

_Beyond pissed._ He picked up the bell and set it on the counter before continuing his journey into the actual house. "Hello?" He called taking his shoes off and placing them next to other the other shoes.

A strawberry blond poked her head out of the kitchen and stared at him for a moment with ice blue eyes before smiling.

"Hello Shikamaru-kun. Here to see Ino I suppose? " He nodded and walked up to the older woman handing her a lavender box. "Ma sent this." He said before turning his head and rolling his eyes. He hated it when his mom sent him on errands.

The lady smiled and put the box on the kitchen counter. "Tell her thank you for me. Well come on." She led him up the stairs that creaked softly under their weight. "I'll warn you though, Ino's a little upset for some reason, so if she snaps at you please forgive her." She finished smiling lightly and placing her hand against her check.

They stopped at white door near the end of the long light yellow hallway. Ino's mother knocked on the door. "Ino dear… You have a visitor." There was a sound of something hitting the door before plopping on the wood floor. "Go away" His friend cried from beyond the door. He could have sworn there was a light sob.

_Troublesome. _

Her mother frowned sadly. "What a shame Shikamaru-kun came all this way just to see you, and now he has to go home." She added a disappointed sigh at the end of her sentence.

Guilt; a mother's charm.

He heard her crossing the floor, and saw the door crack open.

"Give me a minute," she said and shut the door again. Her mother turned and winked at him before walking down the hall and back down the stairs.

Troublesome 

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays peoples! Yeah, I'm late but I updated! Hope you enjoy this chapter, it _just _hit two pages, but even so I fell like it's going slowly. I probably just need to write more….maybe.

1.**Fujibakama**---- _**The "Purple Trousers" flower.**_

Blue Bead


	3. Lilies

**A/N: **Once upon a time there lived a lazy ass writer named, Blue.

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Flashback "Thoughts" 

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Ino leaned her head against the tree and stared off into the multi-colored sky above her while fondling with the ribbon that held the lavender box in her hands together.

She enjoyed these types of scenes; where the sky was bright, and a comfortable silence was settled between two friends.

That was, of course, in till a certain question stuck it's ugly little head out into the open.

"You haven't told her, have you?"

In all honestly Ino was much better with being quiet, to anyone's surprise, when it came to questions such as _that _which involved her nonexistent love life. But in any sense, she knew him too well, that if she didn't answer him, he'd get Chouji to pester her about it.

"_Lazy Bastard"_

Ino frowned and squeezed the box. "No, and I'd like to keep it like that…for a long while."

An annoyed sigh from the other side of the Sakura tree made Ino's frown deepen. He was going to keep talking, wasn't he?

"I've never known you to be _shy_ about your feelings for someone, Ino."

The one time Ino wanted to hear the over used words of "Troublesome," or "What a drag" would never come to save her from this beginning of a hell hole of small talk.

"It's not feelings of any sort _Shikamaru_, it's just a phase in which my hormones are confused. In a month or two I'll be back to swooning over another hot guy, then you and Chouji can go back to talking about how troublesome I am." Ino replied with a little venom dripping off her words.

It was true, as Tenten was having the same problem with a "crush" she had over Temari a few years back. She got over it, her and Neji lived almost happily ever after. _Almost._ So why did Shikamaru bug her about this so much? They both knew of Chouji's crush on Ino, so why didn't he take this time to get her to go out with their chubby friend?

"_Because he's smarter than that."_

"I don't seem to remember hormones being an issues for a ten year-old, Ino, or at least I've never read it, but you _are_ the one that spends your extra time in Tsunade's medical library." He finished; Ino could feel his smile in his words.

The birthday girl bit her lip and squeezed the box tighter, almost digging her nails into it

"Why do you have to be such a smart ass Shikamaru?! Why can't you let this drop and try to convince me to go out with Chouji, like before?" Ino gave a small quiet sob as tears from anger began to fill and sting her eyes.

More silence.

The wind rustled the leaves above them; it was getting darker, a little colder; then.

"Speaking of Chouji, Have you visited him a the hospital lately? He needs some cheering up, I think."

Ino let go of the poor box as a small smile graced her lips. She didn't want to bother arguing that he _was _Chouji's best friend. She only wiped her eyes and started to untie the ribbon.

"I'll…I'll go visit him before my shift tomorrow" She removed the top of the box and smiled at the two pairs of fishnets meant for her arms and knees.

The platinum blond heard him shuffle before he appeared in front of her with his hand held out to help her up.

"Come on, we need to get going before it gets to dark, I'd rather not have ma yelling at me tonight if I can help it."

She took his hand and stood up. She didn't understand the problem with his mom, Ino thought she was a trip.

"Thanks, Shikamaru," _for dropping the subject. _She finished in thought.

Shikamaru gave a small smile before the look of annoyed and bored planted on his face again.

"You owe Kiba's team a new practice pole, by the way."

Ino frowned, way to go on ruining a moment Shika. "How'd they know it was me?"

Shikamaru shrugged before turning around and walking down the hill.

"Who knows, Shino's some sort of physic." Ino wanted to beat the sarcasm out of him but remained semi-calm their trip back to the city limits.

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Ino waved goodbye to her friend before taking her shoes and walking to the stairs, putting the abused box on a small table against the wall, only to be stopped by her mother's calling.

"Ino dear, dinner's ready!"

For once, Ino forgot about dieting and made a beeline towards the kitchen.

"Oh!" Her mother said just as Ino entered, "There is a banquet of flowers for you on the counter." Ino looked over to were a vase of different colored flowers sat on the counter top. She walked over and picked up a tag that was attached to a lily that only read:

_To Ino, _

_Happy Birthday._

In a fancy script, and nothing else.

Ino frowned and smelled the flower before walking towards the table were her mother, father, and food sat. "Did you see who brought it in?" Ino asked taking her place in the middle.

Her mother looked thoughtful for a minute. "No, a shame to, I wanted to comment that it was a lovely job, even if it was a little messy. We might have compotation in the business."

Inochi choked some tempura.

Haruhi(1) slapped him on his back before any _real_ harm could be done. Though his back would hurt for the next week.

"_Mystery flowers.._" Ino grinned before biting into an egg roll, _"what an interesting gift."_

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A/N: Yay for Chapter 3! I finally got off my lazy ass to write xD' and guess what?! 3 pages _for _chapter 3! Man, am I good or am I good?

1: I don't know Ino's mom's name, so lets improvise!

Blue Bead


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